Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news, and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, February 12th, and I'm your host, Kim Kahn. Our top story so far.

Boom goes the inflation dynamite. The January consumer price index jumped 0.5% in January, accelerating from

0.4% in December, and hotter than the 0.3% consensus. That pushed the annual rate up to 3%.

Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, where a 0.4% in January, also topping the 0.3% consensus

and 0.2% prior. That translates to a 3.3% year-on-year

increase. The forecast was for a drop to 3.1. Egg prices, the hot topic in the moment,

or hot potato maybe, saw a 15.2% jump last month and are up 52.2% from last year. Michael

McDonough, chief economist of financial products of Bloomberg,

says his bacon, egg, and cheese with a cup of coffee price index,

saw its largest ever monthly price jump in January,

surging 6.1% or 18 cents.

The markets had predictable reactions.

Stock index futures fell off a cliff after the numbers,

and the major averages are lower.

David Russell, global head of market strategy at Trade Station, sees time running out on the bull market if inflation is attained soon.

Inflation has gotten sticky with items like used cars and auto insurance ticking back up.

This puts pressure not only on the Fed, but also on the White House to tread carefully on tariffs, he said.

On the bond side, Treasury yields shot up. The 10-year yield is now close to 4.65 percent.

Skyler Wynon, CIO at Reagan Capital, says, while President Trump and Treasury Secretary Besson

want 10-year Treasury rates to fall in order to relieve borrowing angst,

the market is in control of long-duration yields. Recent spikes in consumer inflation expectations,

...